Impromptu rooftop concerts and urban sunsets

Overall, this has been a good past couple weeks of working hard, but maximizing my relaxation and enjoyment of the outdoors with the free time I do scrounge up.


Random Oberlin sighting of the week! Saw this window sticker as I was sitting in traffic passing through Wallingford over the weekend.
I went for a long run on Cougar Mountain today...it truly is a trail runner's paradise there...50+ miles of trails, ranging in difficulty level from flat stretches to steeper, more technical single-track routes, and all interspersed with intriguing landmarks like a giant clay pit, an old mine shaft, several small waterfalls, a glacial boulder called the "Fantastic Erratic", and an old anti-aircraft military base. I've run at Cougar several times before, but this was the first time I set out on my own with a trail map in palm, water and energy gels strapped to my back, and just took to the woods for hours of solo exploration. It was 70ish degrees and sunny, but the forest is highly dense in most places. I ran in and out of cool stretches, warm pockets of air, sunshine and shade alike. Great way to spend my day, though it thoroughly wiped me out. I napped away my afternoon.

Jess is moving back to North Carolina at the end of this month, but we spent last Friday afternoon wandering around the lovely neighborhood of Ballard. Alan and I went back the following day so I could buy (finally, Tom, finally!) a cute lunchbox for myself to encourage more creative, thoughtful lunches to take to work. (Yes, expect a lunchbox blog post in the near future.) We also stopped in a cozy outdoor beer garden in Ballard to soak up the afternoon sunshine and watch the beginning of the Sounders game amidst a sea of fellow futbol fans. Did I mention that I love this city?

Zoe came over from Bainbridge Island later that evening so we could hang out. I met her at the ferry landing and we went out for Thai food down by Pike Place Market before going to the Hard Rock Cafe to see a band that she'd seen at the Ballard Market perform: Luc and the Lovingtons. The Hard Rock Cafe is a new addition for Seattle, having just opened its doors in February. I'm no Hard Rock Cafe groupie, but in all truth, it was a sweet venue. In addition to showcasing dozens of dolled up high schoolers for their prom dinner on Saturday, it boasts a super-sweet rooftop terrace with a nice view of the market and the Sound. In exploring up there, a couple members of the band recognized Zoe ("You're Ballard Market Girl!!") and we all hung out on the roof until the show started. The show itself was spectacular; their album got reviewed by the Seattle Weekly in the same breath as the Blue Scholars' album...woohoo local music! They're a feel-good reggae/funk sort of band whose music is all about peace, love and happiness, with special interest on their album in post-Katrina New Orleans, Latin America, and Africa.

Oh! And Jason Mraz has covered their "Freedom song." Rad.

After they played, some guy gave them $500 in cash to continue playing on the rooftop around the "campfire." It worked for a while, until condo neighbors complained and Hard Rock's bouncers kicked us all off the roof...but all in all, it was a truly magical night.


Cell phone photo. Pardon the poor quality.
In other news about my friends whose names begin with the letter Z...Zanna's birthday was this week! She had a rockin evening picnic, complete with Lady Gaga (in Ipod format, not in the flesh, sadly), volleyball net, yummy Trophy cupcakes (which just broke a record!), watermelon, frisbees, and a lot of good company.


Good, silly times were had by all.
There were also some lovely sunsets this week. Here's one Alan and I managed to catch from atop the Mount Baker neighborhood - a totally under-appreciated part of Seattle on the southeast side with spectacular views that most people don't seem to know about.


Most Seattle skyline photos are taken from Queen Anne hill, where the Space Needle features prominently in the view of the skyline. It's in this picture, too, but so tucked away behind the buildings that it's barely even a speck.


+ the moon.
So, I'm feeling much calmer and balanced than I was awhile ago. Crazily enough, I'm still averaging anywhere from 40-50 hour work weeks, but somehow I feel like I'm just managing better. The extra sunlight hours are helping my energy levels a lot. Running regularly again helps. And vacation just around the corner is a big deal! Onward...

A brief history of cupcakes (+ coffee)

Hot cocoa, Cupcake Royale (a.k.a. "cupcakes + coffee")
As is becoming increasingly typical, I'm posting this week's Cup o' Joe in Monday's final hour in the Pacific Time Zone...I'll try and be more on my game next week. But first, a quick note to you:

Hooray for new folks checking out my blog! I began this primarily as a way for people in Kansas, Ohio, the Netherlands and other various places that have been home to me at one time or another, to keep up with my life post-all-of-those-places...but given that I write as much as I do about specific places around the city, it makes me happy to know people in Seattle are occasionally following this, too. (And I've had several protests from Seattle friends on the notion of Starbucks as socially taboo here, so perhaps I need to stand corrected on that point.) Anyway, thoughts are always appreciated - so if you're reading this, I'd love to get your feedback!


With that said...so, cupcakes are great. I was telling Becca on the phone yesterday that I think cupcakes are the wave of the future. They're coming back! Not that cupcakes were ever really "out" - but there's something retro and simple about them, and cities are picking up on it. Given that my best friend's favorite things in the world are cupcakes, it's no surprise that I give them a lot of thought. My exposure to cupcake-specific businesses began exactly one year ago, when Seyeon and I took a fall break our senior year to tour the lovely city of Austin, Texas, and stumbled onto this awesome trailer one cool October evening:


According to Facebook, an old friend of mine from high school who moved to Austin several years ago apparently now works at "hey cupcake!"
I thought it was an Austin-thing. But no! Seattle's got it going on, too. Seyeon and I discovered this cute little place on Pike Street called "Cupcake Royale" several months ago, and have made several repeat visits in the time since. With new featured cupcakes each month (autumn-themed ones this month!), they also boast funky flavors like "Royale with Cheese" (I didn't catch the Pulp Fiction reference until my second time there) and "Salted Caramel" (curious? NY Times tries to explain.)


The spread, clockwise from top: Seyeon's Americano, my pumpkin maple cupcake, my hot cocoa (the cutting-down-on-caffeine thing), her salted caramel cupcake.
The decor is...confusing? Exposed brick can be urban chic, but...


Exposed concrete? I don't know. And there's some seriously funky modern art, too - protruding, indecipherable, and occasionally grotesque abstract sculpture, etc. Another weak point for CR are its prices. $2.75 for specialty cupcakes that can easily be put away in three bites? Harumph. It's probably best for my health and blood sugar levels that way, but my wallet and my appetite have a different opinion on the matter.


The usual: great coffee (by Stumptown, a Portland-based coffee company that's branched out to Seattle and now NYC), floor-to-ceiling windows, fun people-watching location, trendy coffee merchandise, free wi-fi.


The not-so-usual: cute pink chairs, imaginative cupcake flavors, getting to watch the pastry chefs there frost all the cupcakes. Decadent!


Overall: not the coziest place to sit down and hang out...but sometimes it's just fun to remind myself I'm not 5 anymore and at the whim of my parents, so if I feel like having a cupcake (or two), I can walk into a funky little place in Seattle and darn well have myself one.

Tully's! + More reflections on life as a city girl

I'm a day late again on my Cup o' Joe Monday...and though I'll address a Seattle coffeeshop, I'm also going to just ramble a bit about urban living as well. (And then later this week, review the famed Cupcake Royale, another sort-of coffeeshop, but mostly just cupcake-heaven.)


The coffeeshop of choice, both last Monday and today, is Tully's, which is basically the more socially acceptable Starbucks in Seattle. I don't quite understand what the stigma specifically against Starbucks is, since (1)Seattle's the one city in the world in which Starbucks actually is local, and (2)Given their treatment of employees and environmentally friendly efforts, it is certainly a lesser evil than many big corporations. I'm not sure Tully's is any better or worse, but for some reason, it's okay to be a Seattlite with a cup of Tully's in your hand; Starbucks, not so much.

With that said, Tully's Pumpkin Spice Latte totally trumps Starbucks'. It's a matter of deliciously spiced coffee versus pumpkin pie in liquid form, respectively. The latter's just a little too sweet for my taste. Either way, though, pumpkin spice lattes are great, and there's something dangerous about the changing leaves that makes me feel justified in spending money on any autumn-themed beverages and snacks (pumpkin everything! Bread, muffins, cupcakes (as you'll see in my next entry), coffee...fall is fantastic.)


Mostly though, Tully's has a similar feel - standard coffee menu with frou frou coffee drinks and faux-Italian names for over-sugared beverages, huge calorie-laden pastries in a glass display case, chic decor with bold colors, and coffee mugs and grinders for sale on the merchandise shelves. Free wi-fi, though, at Tully's...and, one-price-fits-all for any size of pumpkin lattes, tea and cocoa = awesome. Despite the less-nuanced atmosphere at Tully's than some of the independent places I've reviewed, this particular location is tucked away on a lovely residential corner and serves as a nice, cozy respite from the brisk, bustling world outside.

Interesting observation: so, when I walked into Tully's this morning, the place was equally filled with people in business suits and...middle schoolers! With no parents around - just bunches of kids gathered around tables, decked out in school uniforms, drinking coffee, comparing answers on their math homework. For a moment, I thought, Wow, only in Seattle!, because I'm not sure I was even truly aware of the existence of coffee until college - but in the coffee capital of the world, I guess they start early. But then I realized what was really unusual about the situation - not that kids were drinking coffee, but that they were in a public place without parents. How did they get there? I wasn't able to get myself to meet up with friends anywhere until I had a car...

Of course! Again, I was reminded of why city-living is great. Kids can be so much more independent, because they can walk or bike everywhere, and don't need parents chauffeuring them everywhere. It's great.


In other urban-appreciative moments this week, I worked a 9-5 shift yesterday. I looked with equal parts forlornness and smugness at the traffic jam on I-5 as I walked my favorite bridge over it on my way to work. Had a generally great day there, then walked to the gym at the end of it to meet Seyeon for a super-intense spinning class amidst the post-workday gym rush - not an experience I care to repeat, because too many people in the gym at once stresses me out - but the high concentration of people certainly made me feel like an active part of the pulse of the city!

To round out the urban experience, I got spit on and called several unmentionable obscenities by a homeless man outside the gym on my way in. He proceeded to follow me in and scream things at other gym-goers inside until the staff chased him out. I'm not in Kansas anymore...

Anyway. All this city-living, among Seattlites walking their dogs and biking to work and running city blocks in spandex, and scarf-donning couples holding hands and strolling through fallen leaves on city sidewalks...makes me sometimes feel like a character in a movie. At least that's the way I prefer to imagine myself on my walk-commutes, decked out in fleece, my backpack packed for the day with everything I need, Ipod playing what I imagine to be the soundtrack to my own personal movie, and imagining self-reflecting voiceover about my day.

The soundtrack to my autumn season in Seattle, in case you want to follow along, goes as so (mostly a huge mess of singer-songwriter awesomeness):

Orange Sky, Alexi Murdoch
Vanilla Twilight, Owl City
I'm on Fire, Kelly Dalton (Springsteen cover)
To Be Alone with You, Sufjan Stevens
It Started to Rain, Amos Lee
One of Those Days, Joshua Radin
Cinders and Smoke, Iron and Wine
We Looked Like Giants, Deathcab for Cutie
For My Lover, Tracy Chapman
Falling Slowly, Glen Hansard (Once Soundtrack)

Ennui-less in Seattle

What a week so far. I haven't stopped going since Monday morning...not sure how much longer my caffeine resistance is going to hold out. Especially now that I've officially gone off the deep end by accepting a fourth job that will get me out of the house by 4:45 a.m. a few mornings a week.

But! So far, so good, despite my ostensible foolhardiness on the job front. However, multiple jobs lead to good things, like
- money
- feelings of purpose and accomplishment
- gratitude, especially in this economy
- many new friends


And those things lead to fabulous adventures like last Sunday night! REI hosted a staff beach party on Alki Beach - miles of actual beach (not just a strip of gravel and rocks that the city of Seattle seems to think can be referred to as a "beach"), with sand you can dig your toes into and everything. It's located in West Seattle, which means that, like the photo posted several entries ago taken from Gasworks Park, it affords a stunning view of the downtown skyline from across the waters of Puget Sound (Elliott Bay, in the case of Alki; Lake Union, in the case of Gasworks.)


I got off work at 7:30 on Sunday, swung by my coworker Zanna's houseboat on Lake Union to give her a ride to the beach bash, swung by home to pick up Seyeon, and the three of us trekked across the West Seattle Bridge with a mission - make it to beach before the bonfire was out and all the marshmallows roasted. We pulled it off!


We stayed late with a couple of other REIsters (apparently that's the lingo for us; I'm learning) around the bonfire, watching it go down, talking about life, trying to find the perfect placement in relation to the fire to keep from either burning up or freezing our butts off in the September nighttime chill.

In other magical nights in Seattle, I got together with fellow Oberlin alum (!) Zoe, who hails from Portland originally but is going to grad school up here. We missed connections a lot throughout our years at Oberlin, despite having been in touch (via the now ancient blogging website, Xanga) the summer before college even began. It was great to finally get to know one another a bit more, and in the context of the city. We went out for great Mexican grub on Broadway, then off to Gasworks Park for a lovely sunset, the longest falling shooting star either of us had ever seen (it started directly overhead and fell, over the course of many slow, beautiful seconds, to the horizon before finally burning out), and a long night lying on the grassy side of a hill overlooking the sparkling skyline.


Final other highlights of the week, in spite of the 60+ hours of labor:
- Seeing a really stirring, well-orchestrated performance of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" at the Intiman Theater with Lu
- 8, 12, and 16 mile runs along Lake Washington Boulevard, with clear and stunning views of both Mount Rainier and Mount Baker
- Fabulous, killer cycling class earlier today
- Lots and lots of cookies and cupcakes, courtesy of Seyeon's spectacular baking skills
- The usual awe and wonder: mountains, sunrises, sunsets, Space Needle, I-love-Seattle, blah blah blah...


:)

Friends, cupcakes and the great outdoors

So, I feel like my blog is neglecting my life outside of coffee. Ironically, I'm actually neglecting coffee...yes, that's right. I moved to Seattle and am trying to give up coffee. Minus Mondays, I've been caffeine-sober for nearly two weeks now. So, just one cup for my Cup o' Joe Mondays; loyalty to my blog readers is that strong! Otherwise, I'm trying to manage this morning person schedule here without. If I feel I need coffee to make it through my day, I'm obviously not getting enough sleep. The solution? Sleep more.

But...onward! Enough on coffee. I do other things in Seattle too! This holiday weekend in particular was made up almost entirely of work...30 hours, in fact, between Friday evening and Monday. I love my job. The people - coworkers and customers alike - are amazing. I've gotten so many fantastic tips on trails to hike, places to run, gear to utilize, etc. The learning curve was steep but doable, and I'm already feeling cozy and comfortable in my REI vest. Coworkers often bring cookies and cupcakes to share. I get to read the Seattle Times and Runner's World on my breaks. A couple nights ago, I went out for hot chocolate and a long, late-night walk around Seattle with a coworker who also just moved to the area (from North Carolina). Hooray for making friends.


In the past week also, my friend Natalie came to visit Seattle! She stayed with Lu, another close friend (both from high school), and I got to spend a day with them playing around the scenic Seward Park - a small, forested peninsula that hangs off the east side of Seattle into Lake Washington. It seems that motorized boat traffic has been prohibited there, as the lake is unbelievably quiet and placid - and Seward Park scenic and much emptier of the hordes of people that some of the more centrally located parks invite.


A 3-mile path wraps around the park, offering beautiful views of the water, Bellevue and the woods themselves in all their tall-treed and sunshine-poking-through glory. Magic-garden-esque, no?


I was there again the next day, with Alan, as he got to spend a few days in town. We got to take long walks in the park too, play in the water, get ice cream cones, go out for cupcakes with Seyeon (official blog review of Cupcake Royale cafe coming soon!), stroll around Pioneer Square, eat gyros and falafel in an open-air cafe, browse the infamous Elliott Bay Books, stroll around the small mountain town of North Bend about thirty miles east of Seattle, watch a sunset over Green Lake, have the Alaskan Amber on tap that I sampled and fell in love with at the brewery itself when my dad and I were in Juneau last summer.

Life's good.


P.s. And a plug for a new discovery - singer/songwriter Kelly Dalton. I'm loving him, and his "Home" EP captures the mood that Seattle's drizzly, gray mornings give me before the afternoon sun breaks. Check him out if you get a chance.